The Lilac Booth, Part 2

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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone,

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good,

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read

Speaker 1 all of the stories you'll hear on Nothing Much Happens

Speaker 1 with Audio Engineering by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week. And this week we are giving to the Humane League, helping animals live better lives.

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Speaker 1 I have a tried and true method for sending you off to sleep.

Speaker 1 A way to engage your mind just enough to

Speaker 1 shepherd it into a quiet pasture

Speaker 1 without giving it the zoomies.

Speaker 1 It uses the ancient technology of storytelling.

Speaker 1 And all you need to do is listen.

Speaker 1 Follow the sound of my voice. And know that this is a form of brain training.
If you're new to it, keep coming back.

Speaker 1 Regular use will improve your response.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night, don't hesitate to turn a story back on.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called The Lilac Booth, Part 2.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about a lovely spring day at the farmer's market. and the sweet smell of a favorite flower.

Speaker 1 It's also about street food and sunshine,

Speaker 1 memories pulled forward by a breath of perfume,

Speaker 1 crumpled dollar bills, and the kind of beauty that can sit on your windowsill.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 lights out.

Speaker 1 Set everything down.

Speaker 1 The stuff in your hands

Speaker 1 and the stuff on your mind. Set it down.
It's okay to.

Speaker 1 I'll take the next watch.

Speaker 1 Let your body relax into the sheets

Speaker 1 and feel how good it is

Speaker 1 to be done with today.

Speaker 1 Draw a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh.

Speaker 1 Again, fill it up

Speaker 1 and let it go.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 The lilac booth.

Speaker 1 Part two

Speaker 1 The market was just starting to get busy

Speaker 1 And we were ready.

Speaker 1 I took one more look around

Speaker 1 to assure myself of that.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 we were ready.

Speaker 1 I'd been up early before the dew had dried on the grass or the chill had left the air

Speaker 1 to clip buckets and buckets full of lilac stems for today.

Speaker 1 Me and my small crew of volunteers had snipped for more than an hour,

Speaker 1 but still still hadn't emptied the bushes that grew all over the patch of land surrounding my farmhouse.

Speaker 1 I was glad for that.

Speaker 1 There were still more

Speaker 1 sweet-smelling, mostly purple blooms

Speaker 1 for the folks that stopped to pick them in the next week or so

Speaker 1 before they were gone for another year.

Speaker 1 I say mostly purple because

Speaker 1 since I'd become the steward of the lilacs,

Speaker 1 I'd planted many new varieties,

Speaker 1 including yellow and rose-red ones.

Speaker 1 We had bright blue and pale pink

Speaker 1 and stark white flowers.

Speaker 1 They all carried the signature scent of lilac,

Speaker 1 which is a deep sweetness,

Speaker 1 like a jasmine dipped in honey,

Speaker 1 slightly powdery,

Speaker 1 and with just a bit of green and citrus.

Speaker 1 The van ride on our way to the market

Speaker 1 had been so fragrant,

Speaker 1 I could still smell the flowers on my skin and sweatshirt.

Speaker 1 We'd buckled all the pails into the cargo space,

Speaker 1 settled in around the boxes of donated vases,

Speaker 1 and slowly and carefully bumped our way into town.

Speaker 1 The market is a long, low building on the edge of downtown.

Speaker 1 Half of it is an open-air space,

Speaker 1 Banks of wooden stalls with spaces behind them

Speaker 1 where sellers could pull up and unload their wares.

Speaker 1 The other half was enclosed,

Speaker 1 a long wide hall with cracked green tiles on the floor,

Speaker 1 and vendors on either side.

Speaker 1 Small tables were also set up here and there,

Speaker 1 tucked in beside the entrance,

Speaker 1 and a few running down the sidewalk for smaller home-run businesses and makers.

Speaker 1 There was a coffee cart in the parking lot,

Speaker 1 an ice cream truck at the curb,

Speaker 1 and a few pop-up stands selling empanadas and onagiri

Speaker 1 and flavored iced teas.

Speaker 1 A woman with a guitar was busking by the row of benches in the sun.

Speaker 1 We'd been able to get one of the outdoor spots for today,

Speaker 1 and I was glad about it.

Speaker 1 The air had warmed a good bit since I'd been picking flowers in the early morning,

Speaker 1 And everyone who passed by looked to be enjoying it.

Speaker 1 It was like watching a battery charge

Speaker 1 or a time-lapse video of a plant after it's been watered.

Speaker 1 Faces spread with smiles.

Speaker 1 People took deep breaths and shrugged out of their sweaters

Speaker 1 and tied them around their waists.

Speaker 1 They lifted their faces to the light,

Speaker 1 and weight seemed to lift from their shoulders.

Speaker 1 I liked looking out at them

Speaker 1 as I arranged lilacs into vases.

Speaker 1 We thought about just wrapping the bouquets in newspaper,

Speaker 1 tying them with ribbon.

Speaker 1 But we guessed many of the flowers sold would be gifted.

Speaker 1 And handing someone a bouquet that needs to be recut and arranged

Speaker 1 is a bit like gifting someone a chore.

Speaker 1 In our vases, they would be ready to set on any table or windowsill, just as they were.

Speaker 1 And once I put the word out that I was looking for donated vases,

Speaker 1 lots of folks turned out to have way more than we could use.

Speaker 1 So we hadn't needed to spend a cent

Speaker 1 to upgrade our blooms for our customers.

Speaker 1 We'd prepared a few dozen vases and set them out in rows and bunches in our booth.

Speaker 1 My helpers were ready with change in their aprons,

Speaker 1 and soon we had our first customers.

Speaker 1 People who were drawn by the scent.

Speaker 1 You could see their faces change

Speaker 1 as they breathed in the scent,

Speaker 1 the way they were

Speaker 1 transported instantly to some other time

Speaker 1 and place by the perfume.

Speaker 1 Many told us of the lilac tree they'd had in their backyard growing up,

Speaker 1 or how it was their aunt's favorite flower.

Speaker 1 How those memories had come rushing back

Speaker 1 with one breath of the scent.

Speaker 1 It was something I'd heard so many times

Speaker 1 and knew myself to be true.

Speaker 1 By midday, we were down to our last three buckets of blooms,

Speaker 1 and I was putting together vases of them as fast as I could.

Speaker 1 We told customers about my farmhouse in the country,

Speaker 1 surrounded by lilac bushes in every direction.

Speaker 1 How I'd been a lilac thief,

Speaker 1 but was now reformed.

Speaker 1 How the money we were raising today

Speaker 1 would help the monarch habitat

Speaker 1 across from the elementary school.

Speaker 1 A few people had been to the farm before.

Speaker 1 I'd seen the signs encouraging them to stop and take home a few stems.

Speaker 1 But there were plenty who had never smelled a lilac.

Speaker 1 And I hoped we were creating a memory for them that they could return to many times.

Speaker 1 I swapped jobs with an hour to go

Speaker 1 and let someone else handle bundling the stems.

Speaker 1 I wrapped one of the aprons around me, noticing that we had indeed raised a good bit of cash already.

Speaker 1 As I walked around to the front of the booth to appreciate this little dream that I had brought to life,

Speaker 1 I noticed a little girl, ten or eleven,

Speaker 1 digging in her pockets for crumpled-up dollar bills.

Speaker 1 She was counting them out and looking at the vases,

Speaker 1 trying to decide if she had enough for the big one in the center of the table.

Speaker 1 I called out to the volunteer behind the booth

Speaker 1 that since it was almost the end of the day

Speaker 1 we should put everything on sale for half off

Speaker 1 she looked down at the little girl and nodded at me with a wink good call boss she said

Speaker 1 the girl handed over her dollars and walked out with the largest vase we had

Speaker 1 her arms had barely wrapped around it,

Speaker 1 and her face poked through the stems.

Speaker 1 I knew she might have bought them to gift to a parent or grandparent.

Speaker 1 But I sort of hoped they were all for her,

Speaker 1 that she would set them on her bedside table,

Speaker 1 and that the perfume of them would work its way into her dreams as she slept.

Speaker 1 Yes, it could lead her to a life of crime,

Speaker 1 a life like my own,

Speaker 1 the life of a lilac thief.

Speaker 1 But I thought the world needed more of us,

Speaker 1 more people,

Speaker 1 driven by a love for beautiful things.

Speaker 1 The lilac booth.

Speaker 1 Part two

Speaker 1 The market

Speaker 1 was just starting to get busy

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 we were ready

Speaker 1 I took one more look around

Speaker 1 to assure myself of that

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 we were ready.

Speaker 1 I'd been up early

Speaker 1 before the dew had dried on the grass,

Speaker 1 or the chill had left the air,

Speaker 1 to clip buckets and buckets full of lilac stems for to day.

Speaker 1 Me and my small crew of volunteers

Speaker 1 had snipped for more than an hour,

Speaker 1 but still hadn't emptied the bushes

Speaker 1 that grew all over the patch of land

Speaker 1 surrounding my old farmhouse.

Speaker 1 I was glad for that.

Speaker 1 There were still more sweet-smelling, mostly purple blooms

Speaker 1 for the folks that stopped to pick them in the next week or so

Speaker 1 before they were gone for another year.

Speaker 1 I say

Speaker 1 mostly purple

Speaker 1 because

Speaker 1 since I'd become the steward of the lilacs,

Speaker 1 I'd planted many new varieties,

Speaker 1 including yellow

Speaker 1 and rose-red ones.

Speaker 1 We had bright blue

Speaker 1 and pale pink

Speaker 1 and stark white flowers.

Speaker 1 They all carried the signature scent of lilac,

Speaker 1 which was a deep sweetness,

Speaker 1 like a jasmine dipped in honey.

Speaker 1 Slightly powdery,

Speaker 1 and with just a bit

Speaker 1 of green and citrus.

Speaker 1 The van ride on our way to the market had been so fragrant.

Speaker 1 I could still smell the flowers on my skin and sweatshirt.

Speaker 1 We'd buckled all the pails

Speaker 1 into our cargo space,

Speaker 1 settled in around the boxes

Speaker 1 of donated vases,

Speaker 1 and slowly and carefully

Speaker 1 bumped our way into town.

Speaker 1 The market is a long,

Speaker 1 low building

Speaker 1 on the edge of downtown.

Speaker 1 Half of it is an open air space

Speaker 1 banks of wooden stalls

Speaker 1 with spaces behind them

Speaker 1 where sellers could pull up

Speaker 1 and unload their wares.

Speaker 1 The other half was enclosed,

Speaker 1 a long wide hall,

Speaker 1 with cracked green tiles on the floor,

Speaker 1 and vendors on either side.

Speaker 1 Small tables were also set up here and there.

Speaker 1 Tucked in beside the entrance,

Speaker 1 and a few running down the sidewalk

Speaker 1 for smaller, home-run businesses and makers.

Speaker 1 There was a coffee cart in the parking lot

Speaker 1 An ice cream truck at the curb

Speaker 1 And a few pop-up stands selling empanadas and onigiri

Speaker 1 and flavored iced teas.

Speaker 1 A woman with a guitar

Speaker 1 was busking by the row of benches in the sun.

Speaker 1 We'd been able to get one of the outdoor spots for today,

Speaker 1 and I was glad about it.

Speaker 1 The air had warmed a good bit

Speaker 1 since I'd been picking flowers in the early morning,

Speaker 1 and everyone who passed by

Speaker 1 looked to be enjoying it.

Speaker 1 It was like watching a battery charge

Speaker 1 or a time-lapse video

Speaker 1 of a plant

Speaker 1 after it's been watered.

Speaker 1 Faces spread with smiles.

Speaker 1 People took deep breaths

Speaker 1 and shrugged out of their sweaters

Speaker 1 and tied them around their waists.

Speaker 1 They lifted their faces to the light,

Speaker 1 and weight seemed to lift from their shoulders.

Speaker 1 I liked looking out at them

Speaker 1 as I arranged lilacs into vases.

Speaker 1 We thought about just wrapping the bouquets in newspaper,

Speaker 1 tying them with ribbon.

Speaker 1 But we guessed many of the flowers we sold

Speaker 1 would be gifted,

Speaker 1 and handing someone a bouquet

Speaker 1 that needs to be recut and arranged

Speaker 1 is a bit like

Speaker 1 gifting someone a chore.

Speaker 1 in our vases they would be ready to set

Speaker 1 on any table or windowsill

Speaker 1 just as they were

Speaker 1 and once I put the word out that I was looking for donated vases

Speaker 1 Lots of folks turned out to have way more

Speaker 1 than they could use

Speaker 1 So we hadn't needed to spend a cent

Speaker 1 to upgrade our blooms for our customers.

Speaker 1 We'd prepared a few dozen vases

Speaker 1 and set them out in rows.

Speaker 1 and bunches in our booth.

Speaker 1 My helpers were ready with change in their aprons,

Speaker 1 and soon we had our first customers,

Speaker 1 people who were drawn by the smell.

Speaker 1 You could see their faces change

Speaker 1 as they breathed in the scent.

Speaker 1 The way they were transported instantly

Speaker 1 to some other time and place

Speaker 1 by the perfume.

Speaker 1 Many told us of the lilac tree they'd had in their backyard growing up

Speaker 1 or how this was their aunt's favorite flower,

Speaker 1 how those memories had come rushing back

Speaker 1 with one breath of the scent.

Speaker 1 It was something I'd heard so many times and knew myself to be true.

Speaker 1 By midday,

Speaker 1 we were down to our last three buckets of blooms,

Speaker 1 and I was putting together vases of them as fast as I could.

Speaker 1 We told customers about my farmhouse in the country,

Speaker 1 surrounded by lilac bushes in every direction.

Speaker 1 How I'd been a lilac thief, but was now reformed.

Speaker 1 How the money we were raising today

Speaker 1 would help the monarch habitat

Speaker 1 across from the elementary school.

Speaker 1 A few people had been to the farm before,

Speaker 1 had seen the signs encouraging them to stop

Speaker 1 and take home a few stems.

Speaker 1 But there were plenty who never smelled a lilac.

Speaker 1 And I hoped

Speaker 1 we were creating a memory for them

Speaker 1 that they could return to many times.

Speaker 1 I swapped jobs with an hour to go

Speaker 1 and let someone else handle bundling the stems.

Speaker 1 I wrapped one of the aprons around me,

Speaker 1 noticing that we had indeed

Speaker 1 raised a good bit of cash already.

Speaker 1 As I walked around to the front of the booth

Speaker 1 to appreciate this dream

Speaker 1 that I had brought to life,

Speaker 1 I noticed a little girl,

Speaker 1 ten or eleven,

Speaker 1 digging in her pockets

Speaker 1 for crumpled up dollar bills.

Speaker 1 She was counting them out

Speaker 1 and looking at the vases,

Speaker 1 trying to decide if she had enough for the big one in the center of the table.

Speaker 1 I called out to the volunteer behind the booth

Speaker 1 that since it was almost the end of the day

Speaker 1 we should put everything on sale for half off.

Speaker 1 She looked down at the little girl and nodded at me with a wink.

Speaker 1 Good call, boss,

Speaker 1 she said.

Speaker 1 The girl handed over her dollars

Speaker 1 and walked out with the largest vase we had.

Speaker 1 Her arms had barely wrapped around it,

Speaker 1 and her face poked through the stems.

Speaker 1 I knew she might have bought them to gift a parent or grandparent.

Speaker 1 But I sort of hoped they were all for her,

Speaker 1 that she would set them on her bedside table,

Speaker 1 and that the perfume of them

Speaker 1 would work its way into her dreams as she slept.

Speaker 1 Yes, it could lead her to a life of crime,

Speaker 1 a life like my own,

Speaker 1 the life of a lilac thief.

Speaker 1 But I thought the world

Speaker 1 needed more of us,

Speaker 1 more

Speaker 1 people

Speaker 1 driven

Speaker 1 by a love

Speaker 1 for beautiful things.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.